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  1. As bad a single as Boots was, it actually is their last USA Top 40 single, as it somehow hit #37, and the stations that played it abandoned it within 10 days of release. Magnificent hit # 79, and I would think it would have hit #33 or so if it were the first single, which would be better than Boots, but as great as Magnificent was, U2's hit single days were over. As much as I want to believe a better first single would've meant more album sales, I doubt it would have other than maybe 3% at most. Since about 2008 or so, I think less than 5 singles by an artist over 45 has even hit the Top 80 in the USA. So even with a quality song, Ageism is a real thing here. And as much as I like most of SOE, they were pandering to young people with a few tracks, including the "requirement" to use Auto Tune, as without it, you can't have a hit, but gladly, they only used it on the intro song, but I still hung my head in shame, the same way I did the few times Prince used it, and even George Michael Best Thing was ok, but they were begging for airplay that they were not going to get. I hope if there is another album, that they quit their obsession with airplay, and just focus on making the best album they can. And can they quit praising whoever the hot artist is with the young people? Kanye West is not half the artist they claim him to be, and even though I don't like Kendrick Lamar, at least he somewhat is more focused on his art than his celebrity as Kanye is.
  2. My configuration on what the album should have been:

    Soon
    Breathe
    Magnificent
    No Line On The Horizon
    Get On Your Boots
    Stand Up Comedy
    I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
    Being Born(No Being Bored With Fez)
    Winter(My Edit)
    Moment of Surrender
    Cedars Of Lebanon


    And my feelings on the album in 2021, and in 2010, when this topic was started a year after the release. I made my ratings now without looking at my old post, and it is shocking how similar my ratings are without even looking at the old post until after doing the rating!

    My feelings now(Aug 2021)

    No Line On The Horizon 8.5
    Magnificent 10
    Moment of Surrender 6.5
    Unknown Caller 5.5 (Music 8, Lyrics -945 Hush Now? Huh?)
    I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight 7.5
    Get On Your Boots 7.5
    Stand Up Comedy 7
    Fez 0 (Boring nonsense noise before Being Born)
    Being Born 9
    White As Snow 6
    Breathe 9.5
    Cedars Of Lebanon 8

    Soon 9
    Winter 7(8 if you edit out the 1960's Star Trek sounding vocals at the end)
    Winter(Acoustic) 7
    I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight(Remix that sounded like a bad Pop Outtake) 3
    No Line On The Horizon(Alt Version) 6.5

    My feelings when it was a year old:

    1. No Line On The Horizon - 9.5/10
    2. Magnificent - 10/10 great song.
    3. Moment of Surrender - 7/10...like it much better now...but the true "Stand Up Comedy" of the album was hearing Eno saying it was his "Greatest moment in his career." Wow...the song will never be that good.
    4. Unknown Caller - Music 9/10, Vocals 2/10. The Oh Oh chorus and the Reboot Yourself lyrics taint Edge's great guitar playing. I can't listen to this one very often. Worst song on the album for me.
    5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Crazy Tonight - 8.5/10...if it wasn't "Walk On's weaker cousin."
    6. Get On Your Boots - 8/10...too much like Vertigo, but still good.
    7. Stand Up Comedy - 7.5/10...decent song, but a bit ordinary
    8. Fez-Being Born - Fez: 0/10, Being Born 9.3/10...for an album that was supposed to be all this new groundbreaking stuff, this was one of the few tracks that didn't sound like stuff from their past.
    9. White As Snow - 6/10...ok, but a skip for me.
    10. Breathe - 9.9/10, a great opener...not all that original, but I love the song. Hard to believe that they kept the Crazy Remix in the set and dumped this and TUF.
    11. Cedars Of Lebanon - 7.8/10...borderline good, can't put my finger on it, but missing something.

    Should've been on the album category:
    Soon 9.9/10...Again, all the talk about how original and groundbreaking the album was...and this is about the only real different sounding thing...and they left it off.

    Winter 8/10...the music is 9/10, vocal 8/10, and the lryics 5/10. Nice song, but Bono is above the lyrics in this one. The only reason to put the beyond horrible Linear DVD in my player. I could get on a bicycle, ride around, and have someone video it, and put the NLOTH music on in the background, and it would be about the same quality. I'd at least make it a little funny. Having some guy ride his motorcycle around doing nothing had to be a huge waste of film.
  3. Still say had Magnificent been released 2000-2006 it would've been top 5 in UK
  4. Yeah. That rime was beginning of the end of rock music in charts. Haven't seen any rock song on top of the charts since then...
  5. Originally posted by LostSailor:[..]



    Sorry as it took me a few days to reply:

    Bono, Willie Williams, and the band discussed the early concept for the 360 stage during the Vertigo 2006 tour over dinner. Bono stuck some forks together and put some type of lid on top in the earliest rendition of what would become "The Claw."

    Here is some interesting reading from Mark Fisher's site:

    http://www.theredandblackarchitect.com/mark-fishers-temporary-architecture/

    Here is a link to a 360 tour stats sheet for St. Louis with every thing about the stage:

    http://markets.livenation.com/elevated/SaintLouis/U2/assets/U2-360-Tour-Statistics.pdf

    Enjoy!


    Thanks for sharing! Really interesting stuff that I had not heard before.

    360 is still my favorite tour that I've seen by the band but in hindsight I can't help but think a different setup/stage/theme would have fit NLOTH as an album better.
  6. Originally posted by bpt3:[..]


    Thanks for sharing! Really interesting stuff that I had not heard before.

    360 is still my favorite tour that I've seen by the band but in hindsight I can't help but think a different setup/stage/theme would have fit NLOTH as an album better.
    I think NLOTH would've translated well on on the IE stage.
  7. Yep.
  8. Interesting to imagine the reverse, too...360 with Innocence/Experience songs.

    I'll add that though I originally said that a different stage would've fit NLOTH better, I was also upset when they dropped so many of its songs by 2010 already as I loved experiencing songs like Breathe and Magnificent live in 2009. And I can appreciate how the band really tried to sell the link between the themes of the album (spiritual pilgrimage, personal epiphanies and journeys) and the 360 stage (space travel, the "Kiss the Future" emphasis). But I think the lack of more specific connection between album and tour exemplifies the band's own confusion about what kind of album they began the NLOTH sessions having in mind and what they ended up with.

  9. Was out at the cottage on Lake Huron (Bayfield, ON) and took this shot. The Horizon is actually almost level with the Green outshoot on the right. Was very, very cool.
  10. Nice shot! I live just 15 minutes north of this location!
  11. FINALLY someone who takes a photo of the sea and caption it as NLOTH, and there is actually no line on the damn horizon!
  12. Hmm. This needs to have its own thread.